- Early Access Complete - 5 February 2026
Greetings Pilots,After a long flight through Early Access, The Battle of Aurinoxia has officially launched on Steam!This release represents the complete vision of the game. A fast, formation driven space shooter built around deliberate enemy design, readable chaos, and systems that reward mastery across several difficulty levels.If you have flown with us before, thank you! Your feedback shaped core systems, balance passes, and countless small but important refinements along the way. If you are just joining the fleet, welcome aboard!WHAT THIS LAUNCH MEANSAll planned core gameplay systems are now implementedCampaign and survival content are complete and tunedEnemy formations, behaviors, and difficulty curves finalizedPerformance, controls, and quality of life improvements applied across the boardThis is not the end of development. But it is the moment where the game stands on its own as a…
- Added Display Settings and Survival Tweaks - 21 January 2026
Hey Pilots, A small update for The Battle of Aurinoxia is now live. This one adds more control over display settings and includes a light tuning pass on Survival mode. Patch Notes Added FPS limit slider to Display Settings Added Adaptive Vsync enable or disable option to Display Settings Tweaked Survival mode spawns and drops Autofire is now off by default More updates coming soon. Thanks for playing!
- Early Access Update - Version 0.10 - 17 December 2025
Greetings Pilots! Update 0.10 focuses on enemy graphics, smoothing out core gameplay flow, tightening difficulty curves, and giving you more control over nukes and other settings. Here are the highlights for this update. Visual and Art Updates Updated artwork for several enemies. Updated boss art. Added visible damage layers to all bosses. Added new shader effects for cloaking and damage layers. Restored old player ship art. Gameplay and Balance Added Nuke Ban Treaty setting so you can control how often nukes drop. Added gameplay setting to enable or disable autofire toggle. Removed visible checkpoints. Checkpoints are now fully automatic and invisible to keep gameplay flow clean. Asteroids now have a chance to break into smaller pieces after being destroyed, adding more chaos and cleanup work for eager pilots. Asteroid and mine hazards now have more dynamic response to attack types, ma…
- Combat and Rebalance Update! - 15 August 2025
Greetings Pilots! Early Access Update 0.9.0 brings numerous improvements to combat systems and pacing, as well as some visual improvements and updated artwork. Many game aspects have been reworked and rebalanced for better playability and maneuvering.Every stage in Story Mode has been reworked with improved enemy spawns and attack behaviors. Survival Mode has been updated to be a bit longer and now contains more enemy patterns. You'll encounter more and tougher enemies at higher difficulties, with a more relaxed game play for lower difficulties.Read on for are all the highlights from this massive update. Enemy Combat ReworkedThe biggest overhaul has been to the combat system to make the game more playable and engaging. Here's the breakdown of additions:Enemies now have varying chances to fire on spawn, giving the player more time to react and maneuver. Enemies of different types now hav…
- Updated Game Logo - 15 July 2025
Just a small update to the title screen to show off the new game logo. This update also includes a few small tweaks to menu options and help text. Stay tuned for more fine tuning and visual upgrades coming soon! Cheers, John
- Vintage Filter Enabled! - 8 July 2025
We've added a Vintage Filter that applies a nostalgic color overlay with some sick scanlines, evoking classic arcade cabinet vibes. It is enabled by default starting with this update, giving the game an even grittier, arcade-era look right out of the gate.If it is not your jam, you can turn it off in the Settings->Misc Settings menu.Stay tuned for more enhancements and updates coming soon!
- New Game Mode Added: Survival Mode! - 28 May 2025
Hey Pilots! A new update has landed for The Battle of Aurinoxia. This update contains a mixture of new features, graphics updates, and bugfixes. Survival Mode: Test Your Limits A brand new game mode puts you up against randomly generated waves of enemies until you have defeated all six stage bosses in random order. Explore Survival Mode on your favorite difficulty level for infinite replayability, as no two runs will be the same! Updated Graphics CMDR.9G has a new paint job and some flashy lights to make him a bit more interesting. The shield power ups also got a facelift. Other Fixes This update contains several bug fixes and QoL updates, as well as some menu text updates. See the full change list below. Change List Added new "Survival Mode" game play mode. Changed "Arcade Mode" to "Story Mode" to better describe the game play. Renamed "Stage Select" to "Mission Select" in game menu. A…
- New Stage & Boss! - 5 April 2025
Grab the ship controls and get ready for a new stage and boss! This brings the total stage count to six, with an arcade mode run taking around 30 minutes, give or take, depending on difficulty and skill level. That feels about right for this kind of arcade-style no-saves game, so I think that'll be a wrap for the main story mode! Hereafter, I'll be focusing on tightening up the gameplay and getting ready to transition from Early Access to version 1.0. This update also includes several small changes and bugfixes. See the release notes below for more details. I'll be creating a forum thread to gauge the community's interest around modding (i.e. creating custom levels). One of my goals during Early Access was to make the StageScript level builder available to the community, but I'd like to get some feedback as to whether anybody even wants this before I sink time into documenting, getting…
- Update 0.6.0 – Recalibrating the Cosmos! - 20 December 2024
Squadron Leaders, A brand-new update has landed for The Battle of Aurinoxia, and it’s packed with changes, improvements, and new content to elevate your interstellar battles. Let’s dive into the details: Introducing “The Lost Levels" We’ve added a new play mode where you can revisit stages that didn’t make the cut for the main story mode. This includes the old Stage 4 (RIP P.IRATE-K1N6), which has found a new home here. If you enjoyed defending the cargo ships and fighting pirates, it’s still playable in this new context. Stage Overhaul A brand-new Stage 4 has been added, offering fresh challenges and a new boss encounter. The stage order has been shuffled to better align with the revamped story flow. Every stage has been reworked for smoother pacing, improved enemy placement, and better engagement. Asteroids now spawn randomly in all stages and interact dynamically with enemies. Enhanc…
- New Update Coming Soon! - 13 December 2024
Hey Pilots, I haven't posted any news in a bit, so just wanted to give a few details as I wrap up the next update! Update 0.5.0 is coming in the next week or so, and will shake up the stage order a bit. Some content is getting cut, while other content is being extended. Don't fret, I've introduced a new play mode called "The Lost Levels." This is for content that won't make the final release cut, but might still be interesting to play after completing the main story in arcade mode. Also coming are some QoL updates, fine-tuning of enemy spawn placement and movements, and a bunch of other smaller modifications. Stay tuned!
- Stages 4 and 5 Launched! - 16 September 2024
Hey pilots, buckle up! Stages 4 and 5 are now live in version 0.5.0 of The Battle of Aurinoxia! These stages bring new enemies, bosses, and gameplay mechanics to push your skills to the limit. We’ve also added fresh music tracks and sound effects to heighten the action. There are also a few new Steam Achievements to acquire! Stage 6 is still in the works, so keep your sensors locked for more updates as we continue to expand the universe. Dive in, explore the new stages, and share your feedback!
- August Update: Music Is in the Final Stages, New Stages Coming Soon! - 30 August 2024
Greetings Pilots, I'm excited to share that the music for stages 4-6 is complete, and I'm now finalizing the new sound effects to accompany them. With the audio work nearing completion, I'll be integrating these elements into the stages and making the final adjustments to polish everything up. The new stages are shaping up nicely, and I'm eager to get them into your hands soon. Stay tuned for more details on the release! Thank you for your continued support and feedback. -- John
- Update v0.4.0 Now Live on Default Branch! - 24 July 2024
Greetings Pilots, The changes from Update v0.4.0 have been tested and are now live on the default branch. See the full list of changes here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2861260/allnews/ Next up, I will be focusing on music and sound effects for stages 4-6 over the next few weeks. After the studio work is wrapped, I'll integrate the audio into the upcoming stages, and make any final adjustments to get them prepped for release. Stay tuned for more updates! -- John
- Update v0.4.0: New Features, Enhancements, and Balancing - 23 July 2024
Greetings Pilots, I've pushed a bunch of updates to the "testing" branch for version 0.4.0, including some new features and improvements based on your feedback. See beta opt-in instructions at bottom. These changes will go live on the main branch after a few days of testing. Dive in and explore the latest changes: Audio Improvements New Sound Effects: Added new sound effects to provide more variety to enemy projectiles and other gameplay sounds. New Gameplay Actions M-BOMB and SHELL Actions: Introduced new M-BOMB and SHELL actions. Controller/Keyboard Configuration: Updated configuration pages to support new inputs for M-BOMB and SHELL. All customized controller/keyboard mappings have been reset to defaults due to these additions (please reconfigure as needed). 1UP Power Up: Added and distributed 1UP power-ups throughout the stages. Gameplay Enhancements Backend and HUD Improvements: Up…
- Update Notes for 0.3.0 - 3 July 2024
Updating the default branch with recent weapon systems improvements. 0.3.0 All weapon upgrades acquired during a stage now carry over to the start of the next stage. Removed random chance affecting weapon loss when taking damage. Loss is now determined solely by shield strength. Higher shields means lower chance of loss. Improved power-up spawn logic to better track current ship systems status (weapons, shields, bombs) and to grant power ups more/less often accordingly. Reworked base laser power and how weapon upgrades affect it. Monitoring laser power will now be less important. Removed WPN+1 power up, as it doesn't serve much purpose after reworking base laser power. Refactored WPN power bar to display weapon upgrade progression instead of base laser power (blue bar at bottom left of HUD). Added new "nuke" power-up that spawns rarely, and deals a large amount of damage to visible enem…
- Update v0.3.0: A Barrage of Enhancements and Balancing - 27 June 2024
Greetings Pilots, I'm excited to roll out update v0.3.0 to the "testing" branch, packed with several additions and improvements based on your feedback. See beta opt-in instructions at bottom. Here's a detailed look at what’s new: Weapon and Power-Up Enhancements Persistent Weapon Upgrades: All weapon upgrades you acquire during a stage now carry over to the start of the next stage. No more resetting your hard-earned power-ups! Shield-Dependent Weapon Loss: I've removed the random chance affecting weapon loss when taking damage. Now, the likelihood of weapon loss is solely determined by your shield strength. Higher shields mean a lower chance of losing your weapons. Improved Power-Up Spawns: Power-up spawn logic has been improved to better track the status of your ship systems (weapons, shields, bombs). Power-ups will now spawn more or less often depending on your current needs. Base Las…
- A Roadmap for Early Access - 20 June 2024
Welcome to the briefing, Pilots! Now that Early Access is officially on, I wanted to share a bit of a Roadmap with everyone. My goal is to share more details of what I'm planning for the game, what's currently in-progress, and to give the community the opportunity to weigh in with feedback and ideas. Expect updates to come every few weeks, possibly more often, depending on how things are moving along. This post is a big dump of info, but going forward, I'll try to keep them shorter :) The following 3 sections lay out my basic battle plan: Main Story Development Design for Stages 4-6 New enemy types, mechanics, and stage bosses Story and Design Music Sound FX (Bosses, weapons, etc.) Testing, testing, testing Add new secondary weapon types (bombs and other kabooms) Add new ammo upgrades Add new Steam Stats and Achievements Update artwork for Steam Achievements Development for Stages 7-9 D…
- Early Access is Live! - 19 June 2024
Alright Pilots, let's go! I've pushed the button, and The Battle of Aurinoxia is now available for Early Access on Steam! About the Game: The Battle of Aurinoxia is a retro space shoot 'em up featuring pixel art graphics, unique enemies, tough bosses, and an original synthesizer soundtrack. As one of the first pilots in the system, your mission is to lead the counteroffensive against alien aggressors and defend The Alliance. What’s Included in Early Access: 3 playable stages with unique bosses and enemies 5 difficulty levels for replayability Leaderboards to showcase community high scores across each difficulty Initial set of stats and achievements (placeholder artwork for achievement badges while we work on designs) Full Xbox controller and keyboard support Custom soundtrack by Interface Type Seven Upcoming Features Planned: Additional stages and story elements New enemy types and boss…
- Weapons Updates, Minor Rebalancing, and Groundwork for some Future Power-Ups - 15 June 2024
Hey Pilots! I've made some improvements to a few systems based on feedback from beta testers and curators who have tried the game. Most of these apply minor polish, such as updating the Stage Select buttons and menu options to better reflect choices. The biggest change is currently on the Beta branch, and adds some new weapon upgrades to the progression path. Then there's some under-the-hood groundwork I put down to enable some exciting power ups in future stages, such as speed boosts. Here's the full change log for default and beta branches: 0.2.9.1 (live) -------------- * Improved under the hood movement systems to enable new speed boost power ups for future stages (TBD). * Updated stage select buttons to reflect "coming soon' during Early Access. * Updated controls menu to better describe auto-drift settings. * Fixed display error on High Scores leaderboard when viewing your score. I…
- The Battle of Aurinoxia Enters Early Access Next Week! - 11 June 2024
Greetings, Pilots! I’m thrilled to announce that The Battle of Aurinoxia will be available in Early Access on Steam next week! The first three stages are ready, and I’m currently integrating the first set of community features. Read on for more details! About the Game: The Battle of Aurinoxia is a retro space shoot 'em up featuring pixel art graphics, unique enemies, tough bosses, and an original synthesizer soundtrack. As one of the first pilots in the system, your mission is to lead the counteroffensive against alien aggressors and defend The Alliance. What’s Included in Early Access: 3 playable stages with unique bosses and enemies 5 difficulty levels for replayability Full Xbox controller and keyboard support Custom soundtrack by Interface Type Seven Community Features (In Beta Testing): Leaderboards to showcase community high scores across each difficulty Initial set of stats and a…
